The Effect of Available Instances on the Relationship of Memory Abilities to Performance in a Concept Learning Task.

Blaine, Daniel D.; Dunham, J. L.

Reported are the procedures, results, and conclusions of a study to determine the effects of available instances on the relationship of memory abilities to performance in a concept learning task. Subjects were 60 undergraduates from introductory educational psychology courses. Tests of six memory abilities were administered to subjects prior to their work with the task. The tests dealt with memory for symbolic and semantic units, classes, and implications. The task was a four-category, two dimensional conjunctive concept problem presented on computer terminals by the method of anticipation. Results indicated that (1) success in recalling previously presented instances and their correct categorization was most closely associated with the measure of memory for symbolic implications, (2) providing a previously presented instance did not significantly facilitate performance in the concept task, and (3) higher memory ability is reflected by more successful performance on the task. Two data tables are included in this report. Bibliography. (LC)